Piracy crackdown disrupts fishermen and trade in Somalia’s Bander Beyla

Renewed piracy off Somalia has disrupted fishing, local trade and supply routes around Bander Beyla, where authorities imposed restrictions on fishermen and launched measures to prevent support for pirate groups.

Piracy has surged off Somalia since late April 2026. Local authorities restricted fishermen from going to sea during the last week of August, amid concerns that pirates were using fishing activity as cover. The restrictions lasted about two months and were lifted on October 1, according to a local government official, after operations led to the release of three ships.

Livelihoods hit by restrictions

For fishermen in Bander Beyla, the measures added to existing economic pressure from declining catches and foreign trawlers.

Abdifatah Mohamed, who has fished off Somalia’s coast for 20 years, said he no longer catches as much fish and that lobster fishing had become increasingly uncommon.

“I don’t catch as much fish anymore, and the prospects for catching lobsters have become rare,” Mohamed said.

He said families that depended on income from the sea suffered when the restrictions prevented fishermen from working. “But it’s like we were being punished for crimes we have nothing to do with, and our families have suffered for it,” he said.

Mohamed also said some young men from the area attempted to go to sea with guns, but residents stopped them. He said some members of the community had joined piracy, while acknowledging the damage it was causing locally.

“Some from our community have taken up arms at sea, but deep down I know it’s hurting our community,” he said.

Arrests and disrupted supplies

Abdirizak Said, who has fished in Bander Beyla for 15 years, said dozens of people had been arrested, mostly after taking food or khat to pirates while seized ships were anchored near the town.

He said some of the pirates involved in hijackings came from Bander Beyla and its surrounding community. Local authorities also ordered businesses and stores not to sell goods to pirates, according to Said.

Supply routes were affected as well. Said said boats that previously carried goods from Yemen to Somalia stopped arriving because of pirate attacks.

“I just want to make a living without worrying whether I’ll make it back to shore safely,” Said said.

Surveillance continues

Although the fishing restrictions were lifted, surveillance continued over Bander Beyla and nearby coastal areas. Two local government officials, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to talk to the press, said helicopters conducted routine flights over the area.

The officials identified the aircraft as belonging to the European Union Naval Force and said they were searching for armed people along the coast. Said said residents continued to hear aircraft overhead and understood that the area remained under observation.

The International Maritime Organization confirmed on October 2 that three hijacked vessels had been freed: Honour 25, Seamull, also known as Sibu 1, and Eureka. The organisation said 44 seafarers were released. Five crew members died during the rescue operation involving Honour 25.

Security pressures

Jethro Norman, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said piracy depends on land-based kinship networks able to arrange credit, equipment, manpower and protection.

He also said the Puntland Maritime Police Force had been stretched by fighting ISIS in the Al-Miskad mountains and had lost personnel during the 2023 anti-Somaliland rebellion in Las Anod.

Somalia’s central government collapsed in 1991, weakening maritime oversight and leaving the country’s waters vulnerable to illegal fishing. Abdinur Abdella, a Somali political and security analyst, said international naval attention shifted toward Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after late 2023. He said the change created weaker security conditions along Somalia’s coast.

The number of reported hijackings varies according to whether commercial ships, fishing vessels and dhows are included. Several seized vessels were held near Bander Beyla, tying the town’s fishing economy to the wider security response.